AS NEWS broke about the tragic blaze, Adam's uncle and grandmother rushed to his hospital bedside to tell him that his mother and four sisters had died.

Barry and June were told there was nothing they could do at Tremellen Street so they rushed to Christie's and asked ward staff to disconnect both the teenager's lap top and television so he didn't see the media coverage.

It took Barry two hours to build up the courage to tell his nephew the news.

Barry said: "I couldn't believe what I was doing. Adam needed some medication to calm down and I just hugged him for a good 45 minutes."

In order to keep the family out of the media spotlight, Barry and June began living at Christie's full-time.

Adam was put in charge of whatever funeral details he felt was right and even took the decision to read an emotional statement to the press after the service.

After the funeral, doctors revealed that Adam would be lucky to see Christmas. He died five weeks later.

Barry said: "We had to hold our emotions back because we knew that Adam was dying. We wanted to make his last few weeks as normal as possible. The weeks after the funeral, Adam deteriorated rapidly and never asked about his illness or if he would get better."

Barry said Caneze had never come to terms with the fact she was losing her son and would tell her brother that she felt she was washing Adam away because his hair was falling out in clumps.

The family agreed that Adam should live on Countess Street with Barry and June so the girls didn't have to watch their brother deteriorate.

June added: "We were a bit selfish, we didn't want him to go. We were egging him on to come back. Adam became very blank and unemotional, he was very deep in thought."

Adam died on 11 December in the same room he was diagnosed in 12 months earlier.

He was surrounded by June, Barry, his uncle Tommy Entwistle and cousin Vicky.

Adam was buried alongside his mum and sisters in Accrington. Barry said: "I would like to pay separate tribute to Adam. He proved how much of a man he was by the way he dealt with the grief and how he supported me and my mum through it all.

"He pushed his own emotions to one side and took the decision to pay his own tribute to his family after the funeral. Adam was a much braver person than I will ever be.

"Even through his final two weeks when he was bedridden, he still found time to smile and reassure us that he was OK. He was always very proud and dignified throughout. But we had to let him be back with his family and that was the hardest part."

Adam became too weak to talk and would type out words on his mobile phone.

He also had a screen saver on his mobile featuring the wreath which said 'Mum', which he would just show to everyone.

Although Barry and June are grateful for the support from the local community, there have been four individuals who they say have made the last few months even harder.

Barry said: "Instead of helping us they interfered and made things harder than they should have been. Hopefully these matters will be resolved at some point."

The house on Tremellen Street is now being cleared and refurbished and will eventually be sold.

Barry and June are planning to move out of the area and will possibly settle near Bolton, to be closer to their family.

Barry added: "Now that the official investigations and inquiries are over and the facts have been made public, it will give us time to grieve and we'll try our best to look to the future.

"Even though it will be an emotional and unhappy experience for a long while, our happy memories will give us a lot of comfort."